NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—The Air Force and Space Force have begun a broad review of how they fulfil their basic missions in support of the combatant commands and the joint force that will lead to recommendations that will begin to be implemented at the start of 2024, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said on Monday.
“The goal is to identify and begin execution by January 2024 of a range of changes that will reoptimize the Department of the Air Force for great power competition,” he said at the annual Air Force Association Air Space Cyber Conference here. That competition includes potential conflict with one primary competitor, China.
Kendall said the Air Force during the past 30 years the Air Force has optimized itself and the Space Force for previous conflicts and peacetime operations, all of which was “reinforced” during the period of budget sequestration and led to an “emphasis on efficiency over effectiveness.” But this is not the future fight, he said.
“The Air Force and Space Force are incredibly capable, but we need to re-optimize the department for great power projection and for great power competition,” Kendall said.
The kickoff of the months-long review began with meetings on Sept. 7 and 8. The assessment will examine how the Air Force “performs its basic missions to organize, train, and equip the units and capabilities that we provide to the combatant commands and to the joint force,” Kendall said. The initial meetings included Kendall’s Air and Space Force staffs and the review is being organized across five teams that also include Air Force headquarters, the secretariat, the Air staff, Space Force staff, and participation from the field, he said.
The five teams lead five lines of effort that the assessment is organized into, including how the Department of the Air Force is organized at headquarters and in the field, how the force is equipped, recruiting, training, and retaining personnel and optimizing career paths, readiness, and finally support to operating Air and Space Forces, he said.
The readiness review will focus on “how we create, sustain, and evaluate readiness across” both forces and the operational support assessment will examine the provision of installations, mobilization, demobilization, and more, he said.
A year from now goal is for the changes to be “well underway,” Kendall said.
“There is no time to lose,” he said.
The review will be guided by senior Air Force leaders and the process will be “inclusive” and open to “innovative thinking” to in response to challenges posed by “potential adversaries,” he said.
Shortcomings that Kendall has observed are the “absence of existing organizations that could address the operational imperative problems” such as one that would integrate command, control, communications, and battle management, and “centers of technical excellence focused on sustaining superiority.